Kulkarni, Powar spin Mumbai to innings victory over Gujarat

Mumbai, Dec 27 (UNI) Spinners Nilesh Kulkarni and Ramesh Powar spun Mumbai to a much needed win over Gujarat by an innings and 163 runs to get five points in their Ranji Trophy Elite Division group 'B' match within three days at the Wankhede stadium here today.

Mumbai, who had reduced Gujarat to 118 for five last evening after posting 503 for seven declared, required only 12.3 overs this morning to wrap up the tail with left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni getting 6 for 31 as the visitors folded up for just 147 in the first innings.

Following on 366 runs behind, Gujarat were given a decent start by Nilesh Modi and Azhar Balakhiya who put on 52 runs to raise a vision of a fightback by the Gujarat bastmen.

However, Ramesh Powar struck the first blow before lunch when he had Modi caught by Sahil Kukreja at silly mid-off for 15.

First innings half centurion, Neeraj Patel began on a confident note. However, this time he fell to the gulies of off spinner Ramesh Powar when he tried to flick him on the on-side but only managed an edge onto his pads which then balloned upto silly point where Vinayak Mane took an easy catch. Patel made 13. After the fall of Patel, Powar induced a mini-collapse as he also dismissed captain Parthiv Patel for five and Bhavik Thakkar for eight, both caught by Mane on the off side.

At the other end, Bhilakiya batted very well showing his colleagues how to bat on this wicket. He found an able partner in A Bhrambhatt with whom he added 35 runs for the fifth wicket. However, after tea, Muzumdar brought on medium pacer Abhishek Nair and he struck immediately getting rid of Bhilakiya for 88 which came from 156 balls and had 11 hits to the fence, being caught in the gully by Nilesh Kulkarni.

This once again opened the floodgates as Powar, who took five wickets in the second and Nilesh Kulkarni taking four running through the tail to give Mumbai a much needed victory after not being able to muster even a point in their first three matches.

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